I did not have anyone to talk Omaha Mav sports with, so I decided to talk to the internet.

I’m not one to get excited over highlight reels of athletes, but I love it whenever I see a highlight reel of a tall high school basketball player and it’s not just him dunking on kids at the YMCA a foot shorter than him.

Meet Evan Tricker, one of Omaha’s incoming freshman for the 2017-2018 season. Tricker comes from the state of Florida, stands at 6’11” and will wear the number 33 to trick your mind into thinking the Mavericks just used the Create a Player option to replace Zach Pirog.

Tricker graduated high school in 2016 and played a season at a prep school. He averaged 14 points and 9 rebounds a game in his post-graduate season.

He may be 6’11” but the kid weighs 185 lbs, so hopefully he can add some weight for the college level. Surprisingly, he has been listed as a power/small forward. He has the height of a center, but has the ball handling skills of a wing player. Watching the video, he can really run the floor and knock down jump shots with ease. Looking at Tricker, he appears to have Pirog’s size with the skills of a John Karhoff.

With a relatively thin roster this season, Tricker could find some playing time this season but will still have to compete for minutes in the post with Daniel Meyer, Mitch Hahn, Tre’Sh(damn it), and other incoming post players. With his jump shooting ability, you could see Tricker being used to spread out the floor and keep someone like Mike Daum out of the paint on defense.

IUPUI leaving the conference creates some problems, or really just brings some problems to light. The Jaguars cited geography as their primary reason for wanting to leave the Summit league.

When you look at a map of the Summit League and compare it to other small conferences, yeah, it’s looks pretty rough. The schools along I-29 don’t have it too bad, but travel costs look a little difficult for Denver, Oral Roberts, Fort Wayne, and Western Illinois.

The lack of travel partners made things difficult for teams in basketball. Someone might luck out one week if they traveled to Vermillion on a Thursday and then play in Brookings on that Saturday, but for the most part teams would get to travel to Fort Wayne for a Wednesday night game and then head to Brookings for a Saturday night game. The current President of the United States would call that a “total disaster.”

When North Dakota joins the league*, teams will consider it lucking out when they get to spend a half a week in the states of South Dakota or North Dakota, but someone like Fort Wayne could have to deal with flying to Omaha and then getting on a plane the following morning and flying to Tulsa for a Saturday game.

*Will the Summit League ever give us the ultimate North Dakota-Omaha weekend?

Thursday night: North Dakota vs Omaha women’s basketball

Friday night: North Dakota vs Omaha hockey

Saturday noon: North Dakota vs Omaha men’s basketball

Saturday night: North Dakota vs Omaha hockey

That might make this whole division one transition experiment worth it.

Can the Summit League also consider the traveling fans? The South Dakota schools are pretty close to Omaha and it’s not too difficult for the fans to travel to away games in these match ups. So why is South Dakota playing at Omaha on a Wednesday night? South Dakota fans do not want to leave Vermillion or Sioux Falls to get to Omaha at 7 pm on a Wednesday night, and then get back in the car and get home late at night. Games with that proximity should always be played on Saturdays if we’re going to have this wacky Wednesday and Saturday scheduling system.

Fort Wayne is in a weird place. I assume they are trying to get all the Horizon League members together and frame UIC for murder to open up a spot for the Mastodons. Let’s get the Farewell cards ready for their potential exit. While the ‘Dons would be missed, we’d understand their situation. I’ll also no longer have to debate that 10 hour drive or $500 flight to watch a sporting event.

Fort Wayne would also appear to be in a better situation if they got placed into the Ohio Valley. They’d still be pretty far away from most of the schools in the OVC, but they would be closer than most of the schools in the Summit League.

Denver also creates a bit of a travel problem for schools. The city has a major airport, but I can imagine it can be difficult for someone like Omaha or North Dakota State to drive to Vermillion and then cart their stuff to fly out of Sioux Falls to Denver, then fly from Denver back home. This cuts me to the core to say, but you have to keep Denver happy and in the conference, right? Their damn soccer team is just too good to let go.

Denver fans appear to hate that the conference is South Dakota based, so I’m sure their blood is boiling now considering that Augustana is considering making a jump to Division 1.

So are there any current D-1 schools to add to the Summit League to help out this geography problem?

Chicago State

Average distance to each WAC school: ALL OF THE SOUTHWEST RAPID REWARD POINTS

Average distance to each Summit League school: 570 miles

Pros: 1) Travel partner for Fort Wayne (assuming the ‘Dons stay). 2) Chicago is neat. 3) They have all the sports that the Summit League has and wouldn’t have to find a league as an affiliate member for football, wrestling, men’s volleyball, or whatever.

Cons: Their basketball team won six games last year. One of them was against Billy Wright and Western Illinois! They also played at Creighton a few years ago.

Northern Colorado

Average distance to each Big Sky school: 817 miles

Average distance to each Summit League school: 698 miles

Pros: 1) The Bears could add a travel partner for Denver. 2) Could add a baseball team to the Summit League (they currently play in the WAC for baseball) 3) Weekend trip to Denver/Greeley!

Cons: Would they join the MVC for football, stay in the Big Sky for football? What to do!

UMKC

Average distance to each WAC school: HAHAHAHAHAHA

Average distance to each Summit League school: 438 miles

Pros: 1) Travel partner for Omaha. 2) Big airport for the Pioneers to go to and not complain about it. 3) Another city that could compete to have the conference basketball tournaments in. 4) UMKC could actually see a spike in attendance when traveling fans from the South Dakota schools and Omaha travel to Kansas City.

IUPUI is heading for the Horizon League which is kind of sad because they were that program that was okay at everything and always felt like they were going to be solid in everything in 2 years.

Here are some random notes to consider about what to consider about this situation.

You’ll get to watch 2 less games of your school going up against the Jaguars in basketball on ESPN3. (Seriously, every single game of IUPUI’s was on ESPN3)

Summit League fans will be a little confused if they should still count themselves as the “Conference that had George Hill.” It’s as confusing as when the Big Ten Network brags up their relationship with the 1995 Nebraska Cornhuskers.

Denver will probably complain just a little bit less about geography. Not really, but maybe?

Summit League fans can finally stop considering making a trip to Indianapolis to see their team play IUPUI (and by that we mean just make an excuse to go visit Indianapolis.)

We have to decide who the new HOW IS THIS TEAM SOMEWHAT OKAY AND BEATING US AT HOME Summit League team is. I nominate South Dakota.

What school can we speculate will be the program the Summit League needs to add the most to keep Fort Wayne sane? Someone in Kentucky, Illinois, or Indiana. Actually, let’s just set the Fort Wayne to Another Conference Clock at 4 Minutes to Midnight. The Denver version still needs to be reset from when the power went out.

You’re going to miss Jason Gardner a whole lot more than you’re going to miss IUPUI.

You might feel a little sorry for Fort Wayne right now. The closest Summit League school to them is Western Illinois. That’s a 6 hour drive. All 25 sports of their sports fans are feeling this one today. Also, the couple hundred people who pretended to be Mastodon fans after they beat Indiana should notice this in a couple years, too.

You’re going to miss out on seeing the progress of that one freshman that was going to eventually transfer to a D2 school or disappear off the face of the Earth.

There is going to be a Horizon League versus Summit League Challenge now, right? Sign us up for Milwaukee versus Omaha!

You’ll never really know who is better between North Dakota and IUPUI in sports stuff. That will sting for a while.

It’s that time of year that the only sport we have to watch is mid-season MLB. It’s terrible. It’s the worst time of year. This time of year is the opposite of the holidays. I went outside yesterday. I don’t hate the MLB, but you can tell that American society cannot handle it when ESPN doesn’t know what to do with itself so they just experiment with drone racing and gluttony contests.

Don’t worry, college sports are around the corner. The schedule for the Mavericks’ basketball team should be coming out soon, and we know they will be playing at Rice, but who else could get scheduled while the athletic department scrambles to make money and probably forces the basketball team to play 10 non-conference road games.

Creighton

They’re in Omaha. It’s not that far from UNO. They only have like 6,000 students or anything, so they probably are not all that good.

Drake

It’s a short drive to Des Moines, and Drake is…well…they have a new coach!

Florida Gulf Coast University

New Omaha Maverick Evan Tricker is from Florida, and a trip close to home and a chance to play in front of friends and family could have been part of the pitch to get him to move to the Midwest. I cannot think of many reasons as to why someone would want to relocate from Florida to Nebraska. It’s the fried grilled cheese sandwiches and bread pockets of beef and cheese, isn’t it?

A home-and-home series with Dunk City, you would be into that.

Houston

Maybe, the Mavericks could stop over and play the University of Houston while on their trip to play Rice. I’ve got a friend that lives in Houston. Let’s all make the trip. We can all stay in his one bedroom apartment. He claims to have moved into the “Yuppie neighborhood.” Let’s fill his 500 square foot apartment like a clown car.

Michigan (the state)

The Mavericks have traveled in the past to the state of Michigan to face Michigan State, Eastern Michigan, and Oakland. Let’s go after just about anyone else in that state. Why? Because the Mavericks have access to buses and a ton of recycling units all around campus. If you’re thinking we load up a bus with all the cans we can find and attempt the Michigan Bottle Deposit Scam – you’re right.

Nebraska

They’re in the same state as Omaha. Tim Miles may not be on the hot seat, but there is a candle sitting on the floor under his seat ready to be lit…so I doubt the Huskers are willing to schedule the Mavericks in 2017.

This could actually just be a terrible game if it happened in 2017. How? No one knows.

Oregon

Apparently Dana Altman doesn’t like playing his friends, and it never appeared as if Altman and Derrin Hansen hated each other, so maybe he could just see it as helping UNO out by handing them a check for coming to Eugene. The Ducks also have former UNO coach Kevin McKenna and former UNO player Tony Stubblefield on the coaching staff.

Portland

Perhaps while in Oregon, the Mavericks could fly in or out of Portland and play the Portland Pilots so they can get an autograph from Terry Porter before he loses his job.

Someone in the state of Tennessee

There are a handful of universities in state of Tennessee, and I am sure senior Daniel Norl would love a trip home. Vanderbilt could hand the Mavericks some money, and while in the Volunteer State the Mavericks could also visit Belmont, Lipscomb, Tennessee State, or even Tennessee. Austin Peay even has Domas Budrys who played high school basketball in Lincoln after transferring from Lithuania.

Valparaiso

First of all, why is their nickname “Valpo” and not “Valpa” which sounds like a terrible wrap you would buy at some trendy health restaurant?

Second of all, I seriously never knew that they were the Crusaders. I’ve never once heard anyone say “Valpo Crusaders,” it is always just “Valpo.”

Third of all, the Crus…Valpo got the invite over the Mavericks and a few other candidates to join the Missouri Valley. Part of the invitation should be facing every team on the possible list for a little drama.

All season I have been hoping to see Omaha rise up to what they are capable of being and blow someone out. It was part of my desire to not wanting to be stressed out for two hours of watching sports.

The best part about last night night is that the Mavericks were able to defend the passing lanes and create havoc just as they did last season. The entire team was playing with a huge amount of energy, and there is really no reason why they wont bring the energy tonight. Even with the team only shooting 24 percent on threes, the Mavericks were able to play their brand of basketball and showcase an incredible performance.

It’s unfortunate that the Mavericks have to play in the championship game which is pretty much on the road, but this is still one of the greatest opportunities Omaha has ever had.

Yes, most of the arena will be wearing blue, but there will be some black and crimson. This is the Mavericks moment, though. The players and coaches have said they love playing in the big away games, and taking the home crowd out of it with big plays. Since the Mavericks beat the Jackrabbits in Brookings this season, the only game the Jackrabbits have lost to in the state of South Dakota was to South Dakota in Vermillion.

We’ve been talking about the mind game for the Mavericks, but tonight they’re going up against a team that also has something in their own heads. The Jackrabbits have under performed this season, and even though they were able to pick up a win against the Mavericks in Omaha, they let Omaha shoot all over them in Brookings. Both teams almost gave up big leads to escape with wins on the road in the regular season against each other. Neither team is just going to lay down and let the other one take this win.

Mike Daum is clearly going to demand an incredible amount of attention from the Mavericks. He is like their Super Shredder. Watching him play basketball at times is like watching the opening scene in X Men 2 when Nightcrawler dominates the Secret Service into submission. Hopefully, like that scene, the Mavericks can stop Daum before he does anything catastrophic.

A big factor in the game is if Tre’Shawn Thurman can stay out of foul trouble and challenge Daum enough to throw him off of his game. If Thurman get into foul trouble, Zach Pirog, Daniel Meyer, and Mitch Hahn will need to be ready. Meyer is not the type of player that can really defend Daum, but Pirog can. In Omaha, Pirog’s length really bothered Daum on possessions; and the Mavericks were +11 with him on the court. Derrin Hansen doesn’t give Pirog a lot of minutes, but if things with Daum get a little dicey he may want to take a chance on Pirog.

It’s easy to look at this as OH MY GOD, NOT MIKE DAUM, but there are other guys that Omaha needs to worry about. With all the attention on Daum, backup center Ian Theisen is able to find wide open looks against the Mavericks and knock down big shots. He had 15 points off the bench on 6-of-8 shooting in Brookings against the Mavs. Theisen did suffer an injury after the Jackrabbits trip to Omaha and missed 6 games and has struggled to find a role in the last three games for the Jackrabbits. Omaha is healthier and has some more depth than South Dakota State, but that doesn’t mean the guys who can step up wont step up.

Michael Orris is also a good point guard that can really control the offense for the Jackrabbits, so hopefully the Mavericks can continue this great team defense to disrupt what he can do. Reed Tellinghuisen is another guy that the Mavericks cannot underestimate. Tellinghuisen has struggled this season, and has even gone 1-of-10 on threes against the Mavericks this season. He shot lights out against Omaha as a freshman and sophomore, and the Jackrabbits appear to be more successful when Tellinghuisen gets hot so forcing him to a struggle bus is key.

How about who the Jackrabbits need to go up against?

The Jackrabbits have struggled defensively for much of the season, just like the Mavericks, but they have shown signs that they are capable of being a quality defensive team. With Ian Theisen and other senior AJ Hess both slowed down with injuries, who is going to defend Mitch Hahn who is playing incredible basketball right now and seems more focused than any other play we have ever seen? He could literally hit a shot from anywhere on the court. I wouldn’t be surprised if he hit a trailer 3 from the half court line. Hahn had a three in the first half where he was about 5 feet behind the three point line and he just looked at the IUPUI defender, who was giving him the space, like: Seriously, do you not know who I am?

The Mavericks got their huge emotional game out of the way on Sunday night when they topped the team that scared them the most, and the Jackrabbits got their huge emotional game out of the way last night against their in-state rival. The Mavericks are playing with a high level of confidence, and they’re playing smart basketball right now. They have to continue that if they want the biggest win in program history.

When the Mavericks entered the Summit League, South Dakota State was the program they were striving to be, and now they have the chance to show that they have come a long way to be where they want to be.

We should have expected some intense match ups in the 2nd round of the conference tournament, but there is an in-state battle, and both match ups had teams split their season series.

Neither of these games are easily predictable.

For me, it’s also difficult because I did not get to really watch the Saturday night games. I was babysitting my 5 year old niece and she was more interested in watching the Secret Life of Pets and not what I wanted to watch. How rude?

I did watch some of the South Dakota versus Western Illinois game on my tablet, but couldn’t give it my undivided attention. Was trying to not be a terrible uncle.

South Dakota versus South Dakota State

Monday night tournament game with a trip to the conference championship on the line between the two teams in the conference from the state of South Dakota. So you guys think the arena will sold out?

The two regular season games between these two teams showed that these teams do match up well together. Their best players match up at the same positions, and their benches are relatively the same as well.

The first game was won on a last second shot by the all powerful Mike Daum. The second game saw South Dakota win after almost giving up a big lead, but the Coyotes battled through it to hold on for a 2 point win.

The difference in this game could come down to two key match ups between Mike Daum and Tyler Flack, and also Reed Tellinghuisen and Matt Mooney.

Mike Daum is going to score the ball no matter what teams do. It’s like watching Robocop take down a biker gang at a gas station. There are times where he almost does not seem guard-able. He can score from anywhere on the court, and at 6’9″ he can get his fade away jump shot over anyone. Tyler Flack is one of the few that can actually guard him. In Vermillion, Flack got his chest right into Daum and made him struggle to get into the paint. If Flack gets caught in foul trouble, the two back up centers for the Coyotes, Tyler Hagedorn and Dan Jech, cannot guard Daum in big minutes.

Mooney has proven he is one of the toughest players on the court in the Summit League. He hits key shots, makes smart plays, and bothers opposing guards on defense. Tellinghuisen has struggled at times of the season and been an inconsistent player all year. He was on fire for most of the game between these two in Vermillion, but struggled to hit key shots down the stretch. Tellinghuisen is also not the greatest defender in the league, so he will have to come up big against Mooney. I say this, not knowing what defensive plan TJ Otzelberger will go with this game as he has been up and down with this all year.

Omaha versus IUPUI

I don’t even want to talk about IUPUI. I’m so done with IUPUI. They are like the more inconsistent version of the inconsistent Mavericks.

The Mavericks had one of their signature dry spells late in the first half going into the part of the second half and ended up finding themselves down 11.

Tre’Shawn Thurman and Tra-Deon Hollins were incredible in that second half. Both of them were making huge plays for the Mavericks and were hustling their asses off. When the Mavericks needed energy, they brought the Kyler Erickson energy to will the Mavericks to the win. That three that rattled in late at the end of the game by Daniel Norl was seriously one of the biggest shots in the history of the Mavericks.

Still, there are things that need fixed. The Mastodons missed three wide open threes in the last minute of that game, and the ‘Dons made the right plays to get those open shots. When Hollins slipped on the floor giving John Konchar the wide open look, the only thing I could think was that this was my hell.

The biggest fear I would have for the Mavericks is their emotional level and mindset now. Getting past the first round was a huge goal of theirs, and you could see the emotion in the players and Derrin Hansen’s eyes after finally earning the win. The ‘Dons had been in their heads, and to get a win against them in that situation was a highly emotional moment for all of the Mavericks.

Now, let’s see if they can continue with the momentum and pick up another win.

Luckily, the Mavericks may find more inspiration than just getting past a team. Their loss to IUPUI in Baxter Arena was an embarrassing loss. The Mavericks could never quite get into the game after starting the game down 11, and it was all on them. Omaha made bad plays, turned the ball over with IUPUI not even really playing defense, and were just outplayed in energy.

The Mavericks know how important a big start is against the Jaguars this time around, hopefully the moment can energize them to give them the edge they never found when they lost at home to IUPUI.

There is not a ton of separation between Omaha and Fort Wayne, just four straight wins for the Mastodons over the Mavericks.

It is difficult to beat a team that you are evenly matched with three times in one season. Omaha is confident right now, and they are riding a three game winning steak, but who knows what their confidence level is when matched up against the only team that they couldn’t pick up a win against this season.

Even as Derrin Hansen was expecting any possible outcome, on the post game interview after the win against North Dakota State, it sounded as if he was playing off the anger in his attitude. It could be that every game between the Omaha and Fort Wayne in the last two seasons has been close, but the Mavericks haven’t gotten the cigar. Cigars are bad for you, so it’ s not like that part of it is a big deal. The Mastodons could be in the heads of the Mavericks players and coaches.

One thing that would instantly jump out to the Mavericks is John Konchar. Konchar is obviously a great player. Yesterday he was named First Team All Summit League after averaging 15 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 assists a game; and on top of that he shot 64 percent from the field and 54 percent on threes.

I’m sure you would expect those averages to go up against the Mavericks because of the pace both of teams want to play at, but Konchar’s stats against the Mavericks would have you think he is playing against a division 2 opponent. In 2 seasons, Konchar has averaged 24 points, 13.3 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and shot 78 percent from the field and 85 percent on threes. He has not missed a 3 point shot against the Mavericks this season.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say Derrin Hansen and the Mavericks are probably not extremely thrilled that Konchar’s mix tape for professional basketball teams to see will be largely in thanks to the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Another face that will stick out to the Mavericks is Brent Calhoun. The center that used to be heavier than my car, but has turned himself into a well conditioned basketball player that can run the floor and might even be the best Summit League player that purely stays in the post.

Calhoun was in foul trouble in one game last season and really didn’t have the opportunity to accumulate any stats, so not counting that game, but in the last two seasons Calhoun has averaged 13 points and shot 75 percent from the field against Omaha. He dominates the low block against the Mavericks on offense and defense.

He also averaged 3.7 blocks in those three meetings.

Neither of these teams love the defensive end, but the Mavericks need to slow down and contain Calhoun and Konchar. Players like Zach Jackson and Daniel Norl might not even want to take a shot in this game, and just focus all their time and energy on just bothering John Konchar. That’s nearly impossible, they won’t not take shots in this system but it’s a theory.

The hope is that this is like some super hero movie. The villain wins the early battles, the hero fails early on and learns more about the villain and even more about their own life, and then they go out there for one final jousting for a winner take all battle and the hero saves the freaking day.

Omaha coaches and players have stated throughout the entire season that they were upset with themselves with the early exit in the Summit League in 2016. They said they wanted to be playing their best basketball of the season heading into the tournament, and they are, but we have seen them go on hot and cold streaks this season. A win in this game relies on their mental focus and toughness in dealing with Fort Wayne.

In a game where the teams are so close to each other, but also so far away, every little thing matters. Mavericks have to stay focused in on the big things, and the little things.